"Are you feeling okay Carson?" Elizabeth asked her CMO, who sat against the wall with his eyes closed.
"I think I'm just tired. Can't concentrate very well." Carson answered, although it was a massive understatement. When he tried to think of Scotland to help him relax, his brain sidetracked and thought about work, when he tried to think about work, fishing came to mind, and so on.
"Just rest then, Rodney will figure this out." Elizabeth suggested.
"Figure this out!" Rodney exclaimed suddenly, from behind them both. "Figure this out! Even if I could get past Argrose's fancy shmancy lock outs, there'll still be guards posted outside."
When Rodney paused for a breath Ronon cut in. "Then we'll overwhelm them. There are a lot more of us than there are of them."
"That's assuming they haven't taken precautions against that. There is also the problem of how to go to the control room without Argrose being alerted of our presence and being prepared for us." Rodney was getting slightly red in the face and clearly had more to say but Teyla placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Calm down Rodney, we will find a way." she assured him.
"Yeah we always do." Ronon added.
Rodney all but screeched. "And yet Mr. Think On His Feet is in the lower levels of the city being tortured inside his own brain!"
John jerked backwards towards a nearby door and pulled his XO with him. The doors opened enough to admit them and closed again without either of them swiping a hand over the panel. Their hearts hammered in their chests while they waiting for the footsteps to completely disappear.
Perhaps it would be best if the two of you rested. I can hide you from the sensors and wake you if there is a problem. You can take back the city in a couple of hours. Atlantis told them.
Better to take them now while they aren't as organized. John argued mentally.
No, better to take them later when you are organized. Atlantis said firmly.
Evan was trying his best not to smile at Atlantis' logic.
John scowled. Fine. "Lorne, you got a power bar? I haven't eaten in two days."
Five hours later and armed to the teeth, the colonel and the major made discussed their plan of action.
"Are we going to take out the control room or the bad guys combing the city looking for us?" Evan asked.
John considered it for a moment. "If we take out Argrose first they won't have a leader. Hopefully they'll be disorganized enough to make it easier to take them out. How many did you say you counted?"
"Thirty." Evan answered immediately.
The Stargate has not been activated since then, the bio sensors indicate six men in the control room and another twenty five searching for you and making sure Argrose lock down stays in place.
What lock down? John asked, alarmed.
Argrose has initiated a grade one lock down. He is opening the doors that are needed for the search teams and keeping the rest closed. I am able to open the doors as well.
What if you opened all the doors at once so that we could get all of our people out. Then we would outnumber them. Evan suggested.
True but most of your people would be confused. Atlantis said.
Alright we could play cat and mouse but Argrose could just bring more people from whatever planet he is getting them from. We need to take back the control room. John decided.
And how do you propose we do that, sir?
Alright, here's the plan.
Rodney, Ronon, and Teyla had been trying to find a way out of their current predicament when they heard the sound of a flash bang outside the door. A few P-90 rounds and stunner blasts later the doors slid open to reveal Major Evan Lorne.
"Major!" Rodney exclaimed in a relieved voice. "What's going on?"
"Argrose has control of the city and we're going to take it back. I need everyone qualified to hold weapon to get one. We need to get the control room back first."
"Let's go." Ronon said, and he led the way out.
Lorne handed him his sidearm before further explaining. "Colonel Sheppard has already gone ahead to the control room the sooner we take out Argrose the better. For all we know he could be ordering more troops in now."
"Colonel Sheppard?" Elizabeth spoke, surprised. "How did you get him out of there. Rodney said that pulling the crystals would probably severe his consciousness from his body." She glanced at Rodney for confirmation.
"Yeah." He agreed. "How sis you do that?"
"I'll tell you later."
John crept up to the door and took a deep breath. Flash bang, check. Full magazine, check. Ready. . . well he'd check that box in a minute. John briefly considered waiting for Lorne, or let Atlantis know he wasn't feeling so great. Bruises were making themselves known all over, his leg he was pretty sure was going to give out on him soon, and while the stack of power bars he'd eaten had been great, they were exactly filling. John shoved the thought away, he needed to take out Argrose to keep him from calling anyone else in. Another deep breath, here goes nothing.
John slipped through the doors and tossed the flash bangs into the control room directly in front of him. There were a few muffled shouts and exclamations, John went in guns blazing. Five went down easily, but only five, there were no other hostiles in the area that he could see. Atlantis?
Behind you!
John whirled around just in time to have the P-90 knocked out of his hands an be shoved cruelly against the wall. Argrose, why did I not see that coming? John groaned inwardly. Outwardly he brought up his feet and thrust the hard soles into Argrose's chest. Now would be a good time to tell Lorne to hurry up, Atlantis!
Argrose had stumbled backwards but regained his footing, John didn't hesitate in pulling out his P-14 and sending a bullet straight into Argrose side. Argrose jerked a little where he'd been hit but still lunged for John. John sidestepped, Argrose, however, compensated, grabbing John's shoulder and wrapping him into a headlock.
Sheez, How does this guy keep going? John wondered as his vision started graying.
I hope to have this story finished in two chapters! Three at most. I have renamed it because I don't think I can make it to a dozen.
To answer JoeyLuv's question, I'm not planning on bringing Carson into the act. This story really needs to end. I hope to, sometime in the hopefully not to far future, write a Sentient Atlantis story with Shep, Lorne, and Carson, but I'm just setting the stage here, so to speak. I'm hopeful to get more writing done during the summer. :) Thanks for sticking with me! If there is anything wrong please tell so I can fix it! Reviews are especially appreciated.